Saidullah "Deeder" Zaman (Bengali: সাঈদউল্লাহ দিদার জামান; Hindi: सईदउल्लाह दीदार जमान; born 25 July 1978), is a Bangladeshi-British rapper and former lead vocalist for British band Asian Dub Foundation.
Early life
Zaman got involved with music when he was six years old and used to breakdance.[1] He was nine years old[2] when he first started making music and performed his first live performance aged 11. He used to performance with his sister, Parul. He was also a member of Joi Bangla[1][3] Zaman grew up on reggae and hip hop music, and got into jungle in his teens.[4]
Zaman's father is a homoeopathic doctor, and his elder brother, Saifullah "Sam" Zaman (1965–2015, also known as State of Bengal), was a DJ and music producer.[5] In 1987, Zaman became an original member of his brother's State of Bengal group which included MC Mustaq.[1][2][6] Zaman attended Stratford School.
Career
At the age of 14, Zaman joined the Community Music,[4] a London-based educational organisation that focuses on collective music making,[7] at Community Music House in Farringdon[1] where bassist Dr Das (Aniruddha Das) taught music technology and civil rights worker DJ John Pandit (Pandit G)[8] helped him out as a youth worker. Zaman attended workshops teaching youths the basics of music technology.[9] In late 1993, the three formed Asian Dub Foundation as a sound system[9] to play at anti-racist gigs. The following year, they recruited guitarist Chandrasonic[10] and evolved into a band.[9] The final member Sun-J joined in 1995.[10] Zaman was the lead vocalist[7] for Asian Dub Foundation[4] and was known as Master D.[8][11][12][13]
In December 2000,[1] he left the band after being inspired by activist work while recording the Asian Dub Foundation song "Free Satpal Ram" about a Satpal Ram, a young man who was convicted of murder in what he claimed was self-defense against a racist attack.[4] Zaman then devoted his energies to civil rights and anti-racism organisations.[7] He has worked for National Civil Rights Movement, the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism, the Miscarriages of Justice Organisation and the Children with AIDS Charity.[4]
In 2002, Zaman formed Rebel Uprising with multi-instrumentalist Passion and bassist Dennis Rootical from Irration Steppas.[4] In January 2008, Zaman's debut solo album Minority Large was released by Beat Records. In October 2011, his second solo album Pride of the Underdog was released by Modulor.[4]